


Pardon me, general

by GhastlyGhost



Series: Good Good neighbors (series) [6]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 03:51:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13091838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhastlyGhost/pseuds/GhastlyGhost
Summary: Codsworth lets the General know that it's almost the young lady's, Justin's, birthday.





	Pardon me, general

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't intend to do anything with this, but I'm just posting it, because I just might. Poor girl deserves at least a tiny birthday celebration.
> 
> Reposted from:  
> https://throughknowledge.tumblr.com/post/168595089882/i-actually-have-several-drabbles-about-the

“Pardon me. General Linder?” Codsworth’s canned voice called out from the street of Sanctuary. His tone was careful, as he did not want to seem presumptuous or bother them. He hovered in slowly with his pincer resting against his buzzsaw, and was soon greeted with a long and pitch shifting, “Yes?”

Lucius was sat down by a table writing in a hand bound collection of notebooks, and was very much invested in their work.

As Codsworth approached, he quickly glanced over one of the pages and the open prewar book next to it. It seemed to be something on midwifery and childrearing.

“Doing some reading there, General?” Codsworth asked, returning to his usual enthusiastic tone.

“Hm?” Lucius paused and stared at the book for a moment, before shaking their head as though they only just realized what Codsworth meant. “Oh. More scribing, actually. I wanted to make this available to more people,” they explained as they continued on with copying the text. “It’s one of the things I don’t know as much about, and I can’t teach everyone. Of course…” They halted again and furrowed their brows. “…not everyone can read. We should really work on that.”

Old, though still sharp, cameras observed the circles under the general’s eyes. Lucius often stayed up later than they should, doing other things they deemed worth more of their time than resting. Codsworth had tried to get them to sleep earlier, on numerous occasions, but it rarely worked if he didn’t insist. Even the caravan they’d traveled with before all this said it wasn’t uncommon for them to rather stay up on guard duty than sleep. It was just that now they had a lot more important things to fill that time with, and thus an excuse.

Their writing was curly with large loops and long stripes on the ‘t’ on some seemingly rejected notes. From their brow and leaned in position, along with the notably slower writing, it was clear that they were agonizing to write in a hand that more people would be able to understand. After letting a long sigh out, Lucius finally put down their pen, and turned to Codsworth.

“Anyway, you came here for something, yes?”

Codsworth bobbed up a little. “Yes, it’s about young Justin.”

Lucius leaned back in their seat, with one leg rested over the other and their fingers steeped over the knee. Their eyes locked on Codsworth, and the tilted their head a little forward, letting Codsworth know they were interested in what he had to say.

“You see, the bombs fell not long before her birthday, and chronologically she’ll be turning 228 in a few days,” Codsworth explained. “For her, it’ll be her 18th birthday, and I was wondering if we could… find a way to celebrate it.”

Codsworth stared at Lucius’ face. Seeing that their expression had not changed, he continued, “She’ll be alone otherwise, and, as this would be her first birthday after her mother passed, I…” His voice softened. “I don’t know how she’ll take it. She needs people around to comfort her, or take her mind off of all this for even a second.” There was a pause, and Codsworth swung one of his arms a little while, in a slightly cracked voice, adding, “I don’t think I can do it alone.”

Lucius blinked in silence, still gazing up at Codsworth, until a few seconds had passed, after which they tilted their head, which they followed up with a slow nod and a softened expression. “That is kind of you, and I understand,” they stated. “I’ll see what I can do. Don’t worry.”

“I was rather hoping we could, General.”

Lucius raised their brows. “Oh, of course. Of course. I'm…” Their eyes wandered aside as they no doubt searched the right words. “…too used to working alone all the time. You’d almost swear I never worked in a caravan at all.”

After that, Lucius spun back around to snatch up a blank paper and pick their pen back up, placing the inkt a little closer to where they’d moved.

“Was there anything you had in mind?”


End file.
